Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated on Wednesday his calls that clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church who have violated the canon law shall be defrocked. In a post on social media, Pashinyan said that Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan must be defrocked for breaching his vow of celibacy. “Since the statute is a law for me, as a believer, I must be guided by it,” Pashinyan said.He said the Archbishop must be defrocked according to the abovementioned canon law of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.Pashinyan said he is a devoted follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church and denied the accusations of waging an anti-church campaign, underscoring that he is fighting against those who have “desecrated the Church’s sanctities.”Pashinyan had earlier accused Catholicos Karekin II of breaching his vow of celibacy.He had proposed to create a “coordinating council” that would organize a new election of a Catholicos. Pashinyan said Karekin II is illegitimate because he has fathered a child.
